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The Islamic State is building an “army of the poor” in its new haven in Libya by recruiting footsoldiers from Africa’s poorest nations, Libyan intelligence chiefs say.

The terror group’s Libyan chapter is swelling its ranks by offering cash bounties of up to $1,000 to people from impoverished neighbouring countries such as Chad, Mali and Sudan. In countries where many earn barely $1 a day, even a few hundred dollars is the equivalent of a year’s salary.